Your Right to Know

Whitehall residents will decide in November whether to continue giving their elected officials the boot after two terms.

After much debate and changing opinions, the city council voted this week to add a repeal of term limits to the fall ballot. The move was based on a recommendation from a commission that reviewed the city’s charter.

Term limits that hold all of Whitehall’s elected officials, including council members and the mayor, to two consecutive four-year terms have been in effect since 1996. Voters twice have rejected attempts to repeal the limits.

But city officials say Whitehall has changed since the last defeat more than a decade ago. So have they.

“I voted in favor of term limits the last two times it came up for vote,” said Council President Jim Graham, who was elected in 2007. “I changed my mind.”

Most suburbs don’t have term limits for elected officials. Hilliard limited terms until 2010, when residents voted to get rid of the restrictions.

Officials who support repealing Whitehall’s limits say the city’s pool of potential elected officers is small enough as it is. Automatically kicking those people out, Graham said, often leads to elections with just one candidate for a seat.

“What you’ll end up with is somebody who threw their hat in the ring because no one else was running,” he said.

Mayor Kim Maggard said term limits also hinder the city’s ability to attract young professionals for elected jobs, including the treasurer, auditor and city attorney spots.

“It’s hard to attract anyone into those positions if they cannot have a career” there, Maggard said.

The council initially balked at putting the issue back on the ballot, though. A majority shot down the idea during a July 30 meeting. Councilwoman Karen Conison, who cast one of the no votes, changed her vote the following week.

“I thought that I was doing what was best for our citizens,” she wrote in an email. “However, after careful consideration and talking with some citizens, I realized I did just the opposite. I failed the democratic system that I solely believe in.”Council members Leslie LaCorte, Leo Knoblauch II and Wes Kantor also switched their votes.

Some of the council members who changed their minds said they decided to hand that choice over to the voters. If the city’s residents reject term limits, they expect they’ll vote new council members in and out just as judiciously.

“I believe in my heart that if you do a good job, your citizens will respond by re-electing you,” Kantor said. “If you don’t do your job, they won’t. It’s really an easy process.”